little houses

Click image to enlarge

Designer:  Davinie Fiero
http://davinie.blogspot.com

I am a love of all things crafty, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon Scrapbooking that my heart started to pitter patter with joy and a true love was found. In addition to layouts and cards, one thing I truly enjoy doing is home décor projects.  I love filling my home with projects I have designed that fit perfectly with my taste and the changing seasons.
I wanted to share with you a fun home décor project that celebrates your home.  And what better way to celebrate home than with miniature houses! House shapes are very popular and have been found at your local craft supply store.  The shapes used in my project are wood and are approximately 6 inches wide and 10 inches tall.

Difficulty rating

Instructions (Print version)

1. Using your Desktop Rotary trimmer, measure and trim the patterned paper for the body of your house, and a coordinating paper for the triangular shaped “roof” of your house.  To make this process even simpler, lay your house shape over your patterned paper, pencil a line, and use your micro tipped scissors to trim these pieces.  I trimmed the paper for the base of my house to be ½ inch taller than it should be so that the roof would cover it completely and not create a gap.
2. To add detail to our houses, trim a strip 1 inch strip by the width of the house, approximately 6 inches to use at the top between the roof and the main part of the house.  The strips on my project are green for this step.
3. Choosing another pattern of paper, take your Scallop Sentiment border punch and trim a piece the width of your roof.  As a reminder when using border punches, follow the pattern on the base of the punch to ensure a smooth continuation of the pattern you are trying to trim. Adhere the triangular shaped roof piece over this scallop.  To finish your roof, I have applied border stickers as well to the two outside houses.

4. Once you are finished, adhere the main part of the house to the wood, and then adhere the roof portion over the top.  I machine stitched on both of these pieces before adhering them, for added dimension, detail, and a homespun look.
5. Next you need a piece of cardstock, the ShapeXpress cutter, and the Windows Template.  Trim the front doors and the windows for your houses.  Once you have trimmed them, spray them with mist, ink the edges, and adhere them to the front of your homes.

6. Once the front of our houses are complete, it is time to add grass to the front yard.  To do this I used the boundary waters punch, and the adhesive foam for added dimension between the layers.  I attached my “grass” with the wave going in both directions for added interest.

7. After the grass is finished, it is time to create flowers.  For this I used the Round ‘n Round squeeze punch in both Medium and the Large size.  I then simply layered the circles and applied a button and some leaves that I trimmed from the pattern in the paper with my micro tip scissors. 

8. After this is finished I tied the two outside houses with bakers twine, and then added some coordinating chipboard pieces and stickers.

Supplies:
Fiskars:  Ultra ShapeXpress cutter
Fiskars:  Shape template tool – Windows 1
Fiskars:  Round ‘n Round punch - Medium
Fiskars:  Round ‘n Round punch - Large
Fiskars:  Scallop sentiment border punch
Fiskars:  Boundary Waters border punch
Fiskars:  #5 miicro tip scissors
Fiskars:  Desktop rotary trimmer
Fiskars:  Adhesive foam
Paper, chipboard embellishments, stickers:  The Early Bird line from Cosmo Cricket (www.cosmocricket.com)
Misc. items:  machine stitching and  red Bakers twine, Stazon ink in Timber Brown, Maya Mist in Brown